The Overlord's Effect
by Overfic23
Summary: Death, it is something that binds all living things. Whether they are synthetic or organic all must one day face it. Death itself has come to the terminus systems, and this will impact the whole galaxy. Now if only he would stop running from his job. Then the reapers would truly know what fear is.
1. Chapter 1

*Advice for those who do not know the Overlord story line. It is an ongoing Japanese light novel series and I can say with confidence you will either dislike this or be completely lost/confused by many of the stories aspects. I suggest reading at least some summaries of it to get what is going on. If you are aware of Overlord you'll get where this is going, probably. Glory to Ainz Ooal Gown!**Teen for now, probably will change to M*

Ainz Ooal Gown, the Overlord of Death, supreme ruler of Nazarick, and Sorcerer king of all New Gaia walked into the main office of the space research division headquarters. "My lord!? What are you doing here!?" Shouted his chief engineer as the entire room ground to a halt, a deathly silence taking the place of the normal sounds of work.

"Pay it no mind, I have simply decided to come see our advancements. I have great anticipation for when we pierce the veil." He replied with a noble wave of his hand.

"Of course my lord! It is just that you will usually schedule ahead, and with the new colonies I thought you would be unable to pay us a visit for some time. " The elf replied to her now sitting liege, all but ignoring the two maids who fell in behind the overlord.

"Ah, well, things seem to be progressing smoothly on that front. Icarus seems to be able to handle her assigned tasks very well at the moment. I was able to spare a few days and wished to truly spend time at home." He stated, his stoic appearance and voice not giving away any of his thoughts. 'almost 800 years and I still try to run from my work' he thought wryly.

"I see my lord. Well, we can say that your previous query into the function of gates and mana pools would produce some interesting results. But, I have handed it off to the ship masters because of the limitations it provided." She stated. "I can safely say that our propulsion and power plant research is on track, if not a little bit further along due to the one you sent to help us earlier. Our main FTL research has ground to halt unfortunately. However, that should change when our current missions provide feedback." The elf stated, hoping that her lord was pleased.

"That is good to hear Aushula, I do believe you have earned a reward for you hard effort the last couple of decades. Our space program could not have gotten as far as it has without you." He responded to the now flustered and wide eyed elf before him. "If there is something you wish for please let me know, you have truly earned it."

As she gathered up the last vestiges of strength in her, Aushula replied "Of course my lord! I will do as you command!" The elf responded with a quaking voice.

"Is that so? Very well, I will be off, there are a few things I want to do before I return to work. If there is any major development let me know immediately." And with that death itself left the room in a majestic flurry of cloth. Outside the colossal but otherwise unassuming structure many thoughts ran through his head. 'Ah, how could it have come to this? She seemed to want to hide from me.' However, his thoughts were very different from the ones bursting out of a certain elf.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! I have finally gained his attention!" A clouded eyed but obviously ecstatic female elf whispered to herself. "Huh? Why is it so quite? Oi! Get back to work! We must prove our worth to our lord!" She nearly screamed to the still frozen workers. "Ahhh!" With an energetic shout the normal hustle returned at an improved pace. "Just you wait my lord! I will join you in Nazarick!" She whispered to herself once again as she returned to her office. In dire need of stress relief, she entered the room, locked the door, and let her mind wander. Thoughts of a certain Skeleton Lord filling her mind. Pure ecstasy written across her clouded eyes and moist lips. Her office was thankfully soundproofed in its construction, so the staff were not distracted by the sounds of the room's occupant for several hours.

*In deep space*

Carysu Shulu looked out into the vastness of space. A peaceful look on his scaled face. "Sir, we will be entering sensory range in a few minutes, all systems appear nominal."

"Thank you Sibr, that will be all for now. Send Drang up when you get a chance, I need him to take the helm, and please report to me if there's anything important."

"Yes sir." The tigress demi human stated before departing from the bridge, leaving a white lizard man to his thoughts.

'She is quite the second in command, not to mention pleasing to the eyes. Perhaps I should ask her out when we are done this assignment? No matter, I cannot let this effect my judgment, lest I shame my ancestors. Perhaps it is best if I retire for the night, we will be quite busy once we exist the veil'. With his thoughts calmed, the captain of the NSR Smaragdina laid down to sleep.

"Sir you must wake up! We have found something." An equally nervous and excited Sibr stated as she roused Carysu from his sleep.

"What is it?" he replied trying to get the last traces of sleep from his system.

"When we left the edge of the veil a few hours ago I decided to let you keep resting, as there was nothing of interest going on and the scientists were busy. But about 29 minutes ago our proximity alarm started going off. We of course thought this was just an asteroid, so we decided to approach it to get samples, but once we got in visual range we noticed that it was an artificial structure!" The captain took a few moments to process the information given to him, finally realizing what it meant.

"Get a link up with someone from New Gaia! Get every scientist and engineer on this ship to the bridge in the next ten minutes! Also, get whatever security detail we have ready to fight! Any weapon that we can use should be ready! And get things set up for a ship wide alert notification!" he bellowed to his frantic subordinates. Within a few minutes he had donned modified armor that could go into space, the magic in his armor causing fiery tingles to arc across his back and scales.

*On the Bridge*

Carysu cleared his throat, getting the attention of every being on the ship. "As you may or may not know, we have come across an object that is not of New Gaia design. This means we may be in a first contact situation. Everyone must be on their best behavior and alert for any important signs. I do not want first contact marred by idiocy. Reassignments and change of detail will be sent out soon. If you are not currently busy get as much rest and food as possible because we will not have time for it soon. That is all."

With that he turned off the intercom system and looked out towards the large object before the Smaragdina, taking note of its peculiar two pronged shape. "If you have any information about the situation give it at the end of the brief. No one is to come in contact with the structure without my say so. Also, any people or ships that depart our vessel to get closer for investigation is to maintain a physical tether with the ship. Security will be either stationed at important parts of the ship or in the hanger with what little offensive weaponry we have. If anyone so much as waves their gun at a new contact without my say so you will learn why Kyouhukou is feared so much. Scientist and engineer teams will split into groups of no less than three, also make sure that the teams have a diversity in their training. If you have a request for research send it to me. Now start moving."

"Sir there is something we need to report." One of the engineers said. With a nod he was allowed to continue. "It appears some of the material we have been collecting and studying is reacting with the structure, but we have no clue what the effects will be."

Carysu thought on this for a moment before replying "Keep an eye on it for now, if it doesn't appear to be dangerous we will ignore it for now. I'm afraid there is little else we can do at this time." With that all of the crew and researchers aboard the ship scurried about their new duties, trying to learn more about the structure.

*Time skip*

Carysu was once again on the bridge, reading over a report on the scientists' findings. Even with what little they knew at the time, he realized just how big this was. They were able to determine that the structure was uninhabited, and apparently dormant. He looked up and saw a shuttle approaching the structure, a long cable connecting it to the Smaragdina. "That should be the last series of tests they wanted sir, then we will head back to New Gaia. We still can't connect anyone through visual means, there is too much interference, but we have gotten some messages through informing them about our situation." His second in command stated from behind him.

"Good, I do not want anything going wrong so late into this." Yet fate seemed to once again play havoc with their plans, because just after stating that a white light started to appear from the inner region of the structure. "Great, just great." An exacerbated Carysu stated before a flash of white light shot forth from the structure connecting with the small research vessel, before drawing it, and the still attached Smaragdina. Into the unknown.


	2. Chapter 2

Tali' looked out the front view port of the Normandy, terminus station in front of her. She could not understand why Shepard thought it was necessary to head into the deepest parts of terminus space. 'It must have something to do with that message from that admiral she got the other day.' She thought to herself thinks back to the last few days.

"Jeez, those asari maidens are going to be turned into horse meat." A crass voice said from behind her.

"Jack, I don't not see why you are so pessimistic about them." Tali' responded, motioning to the large ship leaving the station. "They have a large group of commandos with them, not to mention that extra group of scientists."

"Yeah, but they are heading into dead space. Plus, it's not like they are being subtle and those 'mercenaries' we have been seeing around a lot seem to be quite smitten by them." Came an indignant reply.

With her piece said, Jack moved off the exit off the bridge. "Just tell the commander I will be asleep if there is someone to kill." She stated, leaving Tali' alone on the bridge, waiting for the return of the ship's captain.

*With the Smaragdina*

Carysu was freaking out. Of course, he didn't show it, his training able to keep his image calm. But the thought of something happening to those under him, when his command was given by their master personally scared him to the point of wanting to curl his tail around him and hide. It did not help that having no information on how the entire ship was seemingly teleported didn't help.

With a barely noticeable quake in his voice. "Status report!" "Sir all systems are still green, but we are picking up new readings! It's a complete system, we are counting a single sol class starts with 3 rocky planets 6 gas giants and a proto star!" Cried out some nameless deck hand.

He took a moment to think about his next move. "Alright, move us in towards the planets slowly, pick the most promising of the rocky planets. Also, where is that structure?"

As the ship started to make its way further in to the system a response came, and that answer would have quite the significant impact on future events.

*Terminus Station*

Ma'lak looked around him, making sure he was not being followed before he slipped into the dilapidated building just next to the main docks. As he walked through he heard some of the conversations his subordinates were having. "Did you see those maidens? Damn they were fine." One said. "Yeah, but they were with quite a few commandos, too many if you ask me." Replied another. "Ah, quit complaining, those are the most fun to break and turn into docile slaves." Stated a third.

Walking through to a separate area, Ma'lak's thoughts drifted to the upcoming mission. Some politician had hired their 'mercenary' group to send a message, the maidens would just be war spoils. The true mission was to capture the data, and hopefully source, that was traveling with them. They would of course succeed; it was a job they had done before. They would also be getting a not insignificant amount of aid from some other 'mercenaries'. With all this how could they be defeated by a bunch of children, old and over-hyped hags, and a few aloof scientists?

*With Ainz*

On New Gaia the ruler of some 15 billion people of the nearly 1000 identified sentient species was quietly reading a very old looking book, the fact that it was made of parchment giving one an idea of its unique nature. A beautiful but otherwise unassuming maid stood behind him and a cup of tea on the arm rest of the very luxurious couch. He was finally able to relax after a very busy period of time. 'Ah, fifty years without any bodily pleasures leaves one to crave the little things' he thought to himself.

His attention suddenly shifted to his side, the rustling sound and heavy pressure on his side making it obvious someone was leaning against him. He looked down at his side to see a head of black hair with a pair of curved white horns coming off of it resting against his bony side. "What are you doing Albedo?" questioning his second in command who was resting against him.

"Ah, I'm sorry my lord! I will move right away!" she replied frantically.

"No, you can say where you are, I was referring to why you are here in Nazarick." He replied in a level but slightly rushed tone, in truth he didn't want her to go anywhere.

"Oh! The plans for the new elevator platform were finally completed, so I handed it off to the local worm in charge of finances for the next phase. There was nothing else I had to do and I heard you were here so I came to visit you." She replied, snuggling closer to her master, borrowing into his side.

"I see. Well, I have a few days and wished to relax here before going back out to Vesuvius prime. I was just about to retire for the night you may come join me for dinner if you wish" he replied, shifting in an attempt to move from the couch.

"Of course!" she replied in a very enthusiastic manner. "I will go get ready right now!"

"No, well, that might be a bit much." He replied, too late to get her attention before she had disappeared through the door.

"Would you like me to draw a bath for you while the food is prepared my lord?" The previously silent made questioned.

"Yes, that is a good idea. Please assist me in preparing for dinner." He replied, now forced to make an effort I appearance.

"Yes my lord!" The maid stated before leaving with a bounce in her step.

*Several hours later*

A ping grabs the lazing Overlord's attention. He sits up from the bed slowly as to not disturb the three other occupant's sleep. Pulling his skeletal hand down his face in a very human way he stated "What, could it be at this hour?" he questions the other party. The nervous, but mature voice that replies informs him that it is the elf in charge of research he was speaking to that morning. "Ye -yes my lord! You wanted me to inform you if there were any major developments and there has been a very big one. We have lost contact with one of our research vessels!"

"Calm down, while unfortunate to lose a ship it has happened before, there must be something else if it is important enough to let me know about it now." He replied in a stern manner.

"Of course master! Perhaps I should start at the beginning, one of our deep space vessels, the Smaragdina, had just left the outer edge of the veil when they started getting signals about a large object. Once they got closer they realized it was a large artificial structure not of our design. Upon closer inspection they noticed it seemed to be completely inactive, so they moved in to conduct research and get any samples."

The Overlord was silent, there was nothing he could do or think in response to the situation. He had of course considered it, but it seemed so unlikely that they would actually find alien life. Ignoring his distress, she continued speaking. "They tried to contact us through regular means but couldn't due to interference so they sent a message. Of course we just got it and it gave very little information, so we waited to tell you and tried to get more communication so we sent another nearby ship to join them. Just as they were getting into visual range they saw the Smaragdina disappear in a flash of light! Since then no contact has been made with the ship. That was less than twenty minutes ago. What do you want us to do now?"

"Huh?"


	3. Chapter 3

*I never realized some of the lore and history the names of things from Overlord have until I started making this. Some of it is quite interesting. *

Seven! Seven of the unknown alien structures that had dragged the Smaragdina into a completely new system! The captain of the deep-space research vessel was beside himself with what to do. The large vessel drifted in to the heart of the new star system slowly, wary of any new changes to their surroundings. "All systems, report!" cried Carysu.

"Sir, our engines and core are at 85%, optimum range for our current speed. Mana core still de-activated." The chief engineer stated from his station. "Main communications array is down, we appear to be well out of range of any transmitter buoys and we will need to re-calibrate the quantum array. 'messages' still appear to be going through fine sir, but we have yet to receive a response." The communications officer stated.

"Alright, once we come into orbit around the terrestrial planet with two moons we will start sending out research teams, ground teams will be the predesignated teams, all remaining assets will be sent back to the structure that brought us hear. No one is to approach the others." Carysu commanded, finally able to create a notion of order in the situation.

*In Nazarick*

"Eh?" "What do you want from me?" A flustered Overlord stated in his bed, finally drawing the attention of the succubus next to him.

"Yes! What do you want us to do now my lord?" Aushula stated.

"Eh, send any research and military vessels within 1000 astronomical units to assist, you and I will head out personally with a fleet tomorrow. You now have full authority in this matter and the admirals will follow your orders for preparations." He replied with a surprisingly even tone, making a mental note to _tell_ the admirals.

"Yes your majesty." With that the connection was severed. The Overlord's thoughts moving on to informing his undead minions in charge of the Nazarick Navy forces about the information.

"Master, what is wrong? Is there anything I can do?" Albedo stated from his side, blanket pulled up to her chest to cover her body.

"It appears that we have stumbled upon traces of extra-terrestrial life, and this has caused a ship to go missing. I am going to head out to learn more of the situation." He replied.

"My lord! That is quite dangerous! Please take me with you to be your shield!"

"I planned on it. Please get ready, and inform Pandora's Actor that he will be in charge of Nazarick while we are gone. Also, once we have the full report send a summary of it to Demiurge. I will need his wisdom on this." Now speaking to the loli vampire stirring on his other side.

"Now, Evil Eye. You and Entoma are to also accompany us. Go fetch her and meet us at on my ship by noon." He said to the vampire.

Now fully awake, she jumped up startled with an awkward "Understood!" Moving on, the three started to get out of bed and head out to do their tasks. A completely forgotten tan skinned werewolf still blissfully unaware of the situation.

Ainz Ooal Gown moved with a regal purpose. His flag ship, the Ashurbanipal, in front of him, nearly ready to launch on a mission to find the missing ship. He moved pasted the workers scurrying about, trying to get make the final preparations made before its departure. Making it to the bridge, all the crew on deck snapped to attention. "Sir, we will be able to move out in time to meet our deadline. Once underway we should be able to reach the site within 24 hours, we could get there sooner but the method is untested and too risky given the circumstances." The elder lich's voice rasped.

"Good, the time frame is fine. There is not much we could change by getting there sooner. Now, have Aushula and Evil Eye gotten here yet? I wish to speak with them about their roles." The Overlord questioned.

"Lady Aushula is currently in the onboard lab running some tests and going over the data that has been trickling in. I have not seen any others here on your orders yet."

"Send for Aushula, and have Evil Eye and Entoma come to me once they are here."

"Yes master."

Albedo finally spoke from her place behind him, her heavy armor muffling her voice. "I have informed Demiurge and Pandora's Actor as instructed. What do plan to do now my lord?" Her and the automaton next to her both curious about their master's thoughts.

"Once we get there we will try to figure out exactly what events transpired, then we will attempt to recover the Smaragdina."

"Understood."

*On an Uncharted Planet*

Indonia was furious. Those four eyed alien bastards had been raiding their planet for the last few months. Bringing hiss entire species to its knees. The only reason they even still existed being their numbers, the apparent lack of investment in all out conquest by the enemy, and what little technology from the Ancient Ruins they could reactivate. 'I'll make them pay! They have taken everything! They won't get away this time!' He thought vengefully.

Now, the long range sensors they had placed to detect when a raiding ship would come from one of the structures at the edge of their system had sensed something big. It was a ship much larger than the previous raiding ships. But it was thankfully alone. Slowly making its way towards their home planet, as if taunting them about the death and destruction to come soon. But little did those damn slavers know what was in store for them.

He ran along the corridor. Rushing past the numerous soldiers now placing defensive barricades all throughout the base. Reaching the main control room of the planet's defenses. "Indonia! You are no longer allowed to be here!" A voice cried out.

"General! I have seen the alarm. I know what it means and you need my skill." He replied defensively.

"I am well aware of your skill set. I am also aware of your personal grudge in this situation. I you are not fit to be in charge of these systems right now, it is best if you assist the ground troops in planet side defense."

"Yes sir." He replied begrudgingly before heading back outside.

However, the general remained. A rough image of the new ship in front of him. 'I wonder, it is quite different from the other ships we have seen, it even isn't giving off any of the normal readings for the enemy ships. Plus, why did it come from a different structure? Just what is going on?'

*Terminus Station*

Ma'lak looked out the front window of his assault ship. The crippled Asari vessel floating in front of the Batarian assault team. The space attack had been successful. Their numerous ships had quickly overwhelmed the Asari defenses. Now all that was left was to collect their spoils. As he made his way towards one of the boarding craft a voice came up beside him. "Man, this is just too easy. What do you plan on doing with our 'spoils' before we turn them over eh boss?" one of his squad leaders said.

"Not anything as perverted as what you are planning. Only an idiot would try that. I once knew someone who tried to rape an Asari commando. Sure, she was unarmed and contained, but her crazy species abilities and biotics ended up castrating the poor bastard. I plan on saving up money to buy a broken in commando as a pet for my son Plus, I also want to be able to keep my current slaves 'satisfied'."

"Man, sucks to be that guy. I promise my boys and I won't be that stupid, can't say anything about the others though." He said, getting into his own craft, surrounded by his well-armed subordinates.

"Good, I would have to request a new replacement so soon after the last one's incident." The Batarian captain said before his ship's doors closed. 'Now, if only we were farther from that relay. Then we wouldn't need to worry about someone find out about our base here. Or that new planet we found. The natives do make decent slaves though. They just had to come and 'study' the 'dormant' relays in this area. Maybe we should open up some of those other relays? What else could be out there or us to take?' He lamented in his thoughts as he made his final battle preparations.

*Back in Nazarick – The Overlord's Private Chambers'*

The female werewolf stirred in her sleep. "Eh, master. Not the collar. I haven't been that bad of a girl lately I promise." She mumbled in her sleep. Scooting closer to where her master should be she reached out to try and find a nook in his bony side to get comfortable in. as her arms searched her still asleep mind finally realized that no-one was there next to her. *snort* "Eh, master where are you? I'm cold."

…

"Eh? Where did everybody go?"


	4. Chapter 4

Carysu watched as the last of the research teams heading towards the structure departed from the Smaragdina. They were approaching one of the rocky planets and would soon begin exploration of its surface, long range scanners showed signs of vegetation, and they would be able to tell if there was any intelligent life once they passed its moons.

As the ship came into view of the surface a streak of light hit the bow of the ship, causing a small explosion. "Status report!" Carysu cried out.

"Sir! We appear to be taking fire from the surface! Hull breach on level nine! Blockheads are sealing, the damage is minimal but sustained fire from that type of weapon will cripple us sir. We have no defensive capabilities beyond our damage nullification right now, and it will take at least an hour for our mana core to start producing enough mana for ship wide protection." His second in command said from in front of one of the terminals.

"Security chief, what do we have available for a ground assault? We need to disable that gun!"

"We have a dozen type 4 death nights and about 50 security officers."

"Move us in range for a planetary drop. I will head down with four of the death nights and a squad of security. Sibr, you are in command of the Smaragdina for now. Once we silence those guns send down the rest of the death nights and half of the security officers to secure the area. Any offensive weapons we have use them!" he shouted out before running towards the main hangar.

Once he reached the main hangar he was relieved to see the soldiers that will accompany him already there, preparing their gear for the jump onto the planet. The bulky and quite menacing death nights standing by, ready for the slaughter to come. "Alright, once we reach the atmosphere we are going to jump. I know it sucks but our armor should be enough and it will give us a better chance against the defensive guns. Pack plenty of explosive gear as well, we have a siege gun to destroy." He said to the assembled men.

Looking out the hangar doors, he could see the planets land mass coming into view. Heavily developed regions now very obvious. His radio crackled to life, Sibr coming onto the coms. "Sir, we are just about in position, once we drop you off we are going to get behind one of the moons to shelter us. We will send down the team once you call for us."

"That is good to hear, send the updated coordinates on that gun to my suit."

"Yes sir. And, Carysu? Stay safe."

"Hey, if I die just make sure I get resurrected." Another shutter running through the ship as it was hit once again. Taking that as his que to move he leapt from the ship, gravity and pack thrusters hurtling him towards the planet below. A crimson halo forming around him from the friction, the spells in the armor keeping him safe.

He looked around to see one of the human soldiers coming with him get vaporized by one of the rounds from the surface. He muttered a silent prayer for those that would die that day, hoping for their lord to look after them in the next world. It was not long before they hit the planet's surface, landing in an open field next to the base housing the large gun.

"Alright, form up. Death knights in front, everyone else use them as mobile cover, we need to get into that compound quickly!" He shouted out before running for the structure, bringing up his multi-fire rifle. Their presence was quickly met with return fire. The enemy's automatic weapons blazing to life in a desperate attempt to halt their advance. The death knight in front of him raised its iconic shield in retaliation, the heavy defense proving sufficient to stop the enemy fire.

Once they were close enough to clearly see the enemy bunkers all of the death knights rose their deadly weapons, the primitive blades they once had replaced by large heavy machine guns. The guns roared to life, quickly destroying the enemy emplacements with their explosive rounds. Carysu could now see enemy infantry moving to engage, the only notable features of the species being their four arms and fan like necks, the rest of their bodies covered in armor. His weapon barked sharply, the 'magic arrow' class round launched from it piercing the armor worn by the enemy.

The bolt pierced one of the enemies in the chest, killing him instantly. As they made their mad dash for the building holding the gun's controls, waves of new enemies started to arrive. He looked up to see the death knights moving to engage the new forces, his men right behind them to take out the vehicles that had arrived. A round impacted Carysu in the chest, his armor's mid-tier nullification protecting him from any harm. One of his subordinates was not as lucky, the goblin's head disappearing when a tank round clipped it.

"Spread out! Someone take out those tanks before they slaughter us!" He shouted, not noticing the ripple of surprise that ran through the enemy when they understood him. An elf ran from cover behind his death knight shield, using his species' agility to launch himself on the tank before placing an explosive charge on it. By the time the elf was behind cover the vehicle had gone up in a massive fireball, giving away what kind of explosive he had used. The rest were quickly dealt with similarly.

"Form up! We are almost through! Switch to row piercing and area effect on your weapons!" The death knights fell in just in front of Carysu and his men before their weapons crackled, streaks of lighting and balls of fire flying from their weapons, taking out most of the enemy combatants. That shocking display caused many of the enemy to flee in panic, the more organized falling back to better defensible positions inside the building.

As the force reorganized itself for the push into the building Carysu made a headcount, three of his twelve-man squad were gone but all the death knights were still operating well. The gap in fire allowed the medic who came with them to heal the few injuries they had, the death knights' auto repair quickly recovering their minor damage. "Stay tight. Don't break off unless you have to, we need to secure the control room quickly." He said to his men before they pushed into the building.

Inside the structure there was only sporadic fighting, the narrow hallways and imposing death knights making it hard for the enemy to engage them on-mass. They had cleared about half of the compound, the main control room coming up soon according to the conveniently placed maps on the walls. They soon arrived at a large store room that was fifty meters from the gun's control platform.

Just as they entered the room, one of his soldiers in front of the group collapsed to the ground, his armor destroyed by the machine guns now trying to kill them. "Get to cover quickly!" Carysu shouted. Behind cover, he could see that the death knights were slowly but surely pushing towards the gun emplacements blocking the way through. It was at this moment he noticed the platoon strong force moving to the left in a flanking maneuver. "Watch out!" He cried. It was too late.

The enemy group lobed grenades into the cover some of his men were using, the explosion most likely killing them. The remaining forces he had turned their guns on this new threat, explosions ripping into the enemy group from the fireballs they had launched. The superior equipment of the soldiers from Nazarick finishing off the enemy platoon quickly. "Rush the guns! Get in close to finish them off!" Carysu shouted before leaping from cover and sprinting to the last groups of enemies in the room.

He dodged and weaved through the incoming fire, using his heavy tail to balance his four legged run. Jumping into the machine gun nest, he whipped out like lightning, killing the gun crew before they could react. Before he could kill the rest of the enemy soldiers, one of them kicked his gun away, forcing him to draw a blade. The weight of frost pain settled into his hand, the magic blade that had served his family well for so long, a familiar cold air radiating from it.

The enemy who faced him looked on warily at this never before seen threat his blade posed before drawing his own blade. The fierce melee that ensued drowned out the sounds of Carysu's men finishing off the rest of the forces facing them. "I will not let you pass! I will have vengeance for what you invaders have taken from me!" The last of them shouted, still swinging his blade wildly at Carysu. With a quick sweep of his feet, the more experienced blade fighter had thrown the enemy soldier on the ground before striking out with his icy blade.

Carysu quickly pulled his blade out of the enemy and sheathed it before he retrieved his gun. The group encountered no more resistance as they pushed into the fire control room of the large gun. The automatic doors opened wide, welcoming his group as they stormed in. Guns raised, they shouted out to the few enemy technicians that were still in the room. "Hands up where we can see them!" most complied, the ones that didn't were quickly killed. They had secured the gun.


	5. Chapter 5

Indonia saw the streaks of light from the descending invaders, signaling they had arrived. He scooped up his rifle and moved onto an elevated platform near the entrance to the base. 'If they wanted to take over this place they will have to go through me.' He thought to himself, now in the perfect position to take some of them out.

As the enemy rushed the compound he only briefly pondered on why they looked so different, from hulking black walls of armor to short, child sized soldiers, to tailed, but otherwise 'normal' looking aliens. What did get his attention was the fact that the armor they wore looked very different from the usual armor worn by invading aliens. It looked more primitive, like an old plate armor from before the age of firearms, that had just been blended and melded with newer technologies. But it didn't seem to be of any less quality, the hulking armored figures in front proving to be unstoppable walls.

He grew nervous, they were moving towards the compound much faster than they should have been able to. Their armor was also of great use to them. Indonia could only bring one down with heavy sniper fire, and there was much luck in that shot. Those armored walls of mass were proving to be a great threat; he would need to find a way to get some men behind them.

A shocking display from the enemy caused the defender's lines to break. Indonia could only look in shock as lightning and massive fireballs came from the line of enemies. They had alsso quickly disposed of the tanks, unlike previous invasions. This new group of enemies was a much greater threat to his people they must be stopped! As the defensive lines fell Indonia regained his senses. "Fall back to the store room! We will hold them off there!"

Indonia led the small group of survivors into the store room. "Set up some machine gun nests at the far end. I need a squad to wait near the entrance. Once those large armored mechs get by I need you to start taking out the soldiers behind them."

The ambush had helped, he noticed his men take down several of the enemy with their attack. But it was not enough, he had lost many men in the attack and the enemy was closing on the nests. He watched in mute shock as the apparent leader of the enemies jumped out of cover and ran on all fours at the machine gun. His thick tail turned into a weapon as he jumped into the nest with them, quickly swatting or shooting all of the men inside.

Indonia rushed the enemy leader, kicking his main weapon away before trying to stab him with a now drawn blade. He was pushed back and looked cautiously at the blade his enemy drew. It was a sword, made from unknown materials. Its icy blue surface seemed to radiate a sense of cold, wisps of fog coming off of it. He barely registered the information that the rest of his men had fallen, too focused on the fight with the enemy facing him. With a fierce cry he attempted to end the fight with a strong attack. "I will not let you pass! I will have vengeance for what you invaders have taken from me!" he shouted.

The next thing he was aware of was the fact that he was now on his back. He watched as the enemy raised his weapon for a killing blow. The last thoughts running through Indonia's mind were of his wife and daughter "Ah, I have failed you. Forgive me, for I was not able to rescue you.' And with that his consciousness faded.

*On the Smaragdina*

Sibr watched the crews scramble around on the deck of the Smaragdina, trying to make sense of the various information that was coming in. The ship was finally out of the range of the gun from the surface and they were busy making any repairs they could "Drang, what is the situation?"

"Not good ma'am. We are still venting air on level 3 and we are counting 20 crew dead or missing. Luckily our main engines are still online and we have not suffered much structural damage."

At that moment a new set of alarms started going off. "What is it this time Drang?" The officer was slow to respond.

"It, it appears that one of the other structures has activated. We are also reading a small, but very armed fleet of ships of an unknown design."

"Shit. Alright, these guys are probably the reason those surface dwellers were shooting at us in the first place. I don't want to risk any further damage to the ship or messed up first contact. Drang, you will head to the surface with some support for the captain. I can't give you all the troops he asked for, but you can keep the armed drop ship and any gear you take. The Smaragdina will head out to the edge of the system and try to find a way to get in contact with our own forces."

"Yes ma'am. We can leave in less than 15 minutes." The hulking troll stated before lumbering out of the room on his way to the hangar.

The Smaragdina had no problem escaping back to the structure they came through. "Science teams, are there any new reports on what brought us here?" Sibr called out.

"Yes ma'am. We appear to have figured out the material that reacted with the structure to bring us here. It also appears that it is a two-way system. If we reproduced the same environment we should be able to reactivate the structure and have it take us back to where we were." The scientist called out.

"Alright, see if you can get the Smaragdina back through to the other side. Have we heard anything from our own forces about help?"

"Yes ma'am. We received a message saying that there were some military vessels on the other side to provide full support. No more information was given, but they made it clear they would be able to help if we can reproduce what brought us here." A technician called out.

"Good, at least we haven't been left behind."

The lead scientist called out at this time. "Ma'am, I believe we can reproduce the situation that brought us here. We want permission to send the small research shuttle back through to confirm that it is the right location on the other side."

"Granted."

Shortly after, she watched bright light come to life from the center of the structure and lash out with a solid beam towards the small vessel in front of it. Once the light had dimmed she could clearly see that the small vessel was gone.

*In the newly captured base*

Carysu started to move, now that the gun was secure they needed to call the Smaragdina back to send down support and help clear up whatever utter cluster fuck they had gotten into. He moved with purpose, barking out orders to those present. "You! See what you can do about translating those controls. We need to completely secure all digital systems." He said to a portly dwarf, the skilled engineer moving to do his job.

"Alright. Marl, get over here, I need you to watch over these prisoners." He said to the security team's squad leader.

"Yes, sir." Came a brisk reply. Completing his instructions, he watched the human and two of their Death knights move the prisoners to a back corner. In the lull that followed he was finally able to get a good look at the species they were currently fighting, now that there were a group of unarmored ones present. They had grey, hairless skin with a very unique upper body. They had two pairs of arms, the higher pair slightly larger and very human like. Their necks fanned out much like a cobra's would, and they had small beady eyes set just above a trunk like mouth.

Even with the new features, he was able to tell they were quite angry, some of them also showing signs of surprise. It was not difficult to read them, after all, they were much like the many demi-human races of Nazarick and an experienced captain would not let species limit his abilities. He turned away from the aliens, looking to see what the status of their support was.

It was at that point his comms crackled to life "Captain Carysu, do you read?"

"Drang? Why are you the one responding? Where is our support from the Smaragdina? We have secured the gun."

"Sir, something has come up. A new fleet of potentially hostile ships has come from one of the other structures, so vice-captain Sibr decided to move the Smaragdina to safer space. I have been sent to support you with most of the remaining forces."

"Damn it! Things just have to get more complicated! Alright, get down here as soon as possible, this gun is still in working order and I have a gut feeling we will need it."

"Yes sir. We should reach your position in about 20 minutes." With that the comms went dead and a commanding voice from the group of prisoners spoke up.

"Who are you people? You are not like those invaders who have been raiding us." An importantly dressed alien, or in this case native, spoke.

"We are members of the kingdom of Nazarick, and as the captain of the ship you fired upon I want to know what in the seven floors of death we have gotten ourselves into."


	6. Chapter 6

*I don't own the R'ha, they belong to CGBros, you can find them on youtube.*

Commander Shepard was not happy. The tip they had received about the Prothean ruins turned out to be bogus. Then, when they respond to a colony world's distress beacon they find a ghost colony. All of the inhabitants had vanished. And this was not the first time a colony had seemingly disappeared.

The fuming c-sec agent stormed onto the bridge of the Normandy, quite frustrated by the events that had transpired beforehand. "Joker, when can you get us back to terminus station?" She called out to the pilot of the ship.

"It should be about six hours ma'am. We should be in range of a comm buoy soon though, then we will send your message to Admiral Hackett."

"Good. I don't want any more surprises. I will be working in the armory if you need me."

"Wait, Captain! We just got in range of a buoy, it seems that we are receiving some kind of distress signal. Asari by the looks of it."

"Damn it, I really wanted some peace and quiet. Alright, how long will it take us to get to the source of that signal?"

"We can be there in 14 hours ma'am. It will take some long because it's in the middle of nowhere. Almost be faster to go back to terminus and go through a couple different relays."

"Alright, fine. Put us on course to find that signal, they could have information. Let's just hope there is something left for us to save when we get there."

"Yes ma'am." Joker quickly changed the course of the Normandy, sending then hurtling through space towards the signal. "Ma'am, there in an incoming message from admiral Hackett. Should I play it?"

*sigh*"play it. Hopefully this isn't another goose chase."

The prerecorded message started to play through the Normandy's speakers. "Commander Shepard, there is something I need you to do. Recently, we lost contact with an Asari research vessel in the terminus systems. Normally this would be something for the Asaris to deal with, but the vessel supposedly found something and the Asari don't have any forces close enough to help. That is why I am ordering you to investigate and recover the lost ship. Included with this message are the last known coordinates of the ship. Good luck."

Shepard turned to her pilot, a sense of foreboding dread spreading through her. "Joker, where is he sending us? Please tell me away from that distress beacon."

"No ma'am, the coordinates match perfectly."

"Alright, all combat capable crew are to get some rest and prepare for a fight. I have a feeling shit is going to hit the fan on this one. Get me if anything comes up, and let everyone know when we are half an hour out. We need to be ready for hell."

"Yes ma'am." Came the nervous reply from the pilot as Shepard walked away, mind racing to come up with a plan.

*In the newly captured base*

General Vai'llum watched in fascination as the leader of the elite assault team that had conquered their people's strongest base removed his helmet. The face that was revealed was unlike any of the aliens he had previously seen. The white reptilian scales giving him a primal appearance, but his bearing giving off a sense of nobility. "I am General Vai'llum, the commander of this base. We are the people native to this system and are known as the R'ha. It appears there has been some form of misunderstanding."

The leader of the troops before him replied in a bitter tone. "I'll say, why did you start shooting at us as soon as you could? And who is coming with the newly arrived fleet."

"We shot at you because of the new arrivals. We call them the slavers because they raid our cities and enslave our people, they have been a menace and a terror to our people for several months. We do not know who or what they are really called, but they always appear from one of the structures at the edge of the system like you did before returning through it after they raid us. This gun was supposed to be our trump card, able to turn the tide of the war with its use of the ancients' technology."

"I see, then it makes sense for you to have attacked us. While not particularly happy about it, I am willing to look past this if you are. We don't need any more bloodshed and it isn't good to be caught in the crossfire of your war. Plus, our nation does not discriminate based on species or origins, it is one of our core values."

"That is good to hear. I am willing to do what I can to help our two nations reconcile, but the losses we have suffered will not help in that regard. I also believe it may be a moot point, because if what I am seeing is right, the largest slaver fleet we have ever seen is on its way."

"I think we can come up with something in terms of the losses suffered today, would you be willing to let us protect the bodies of our and your fallen soldiers until help arrives? I am sure you won't regret it."

"While a strange request, I am willing to accept it. In return, please also help us repel this assault. The forces we face are great, but you have shown you will be more than a match for the slaver soldiers, especially those large shielded mech units of yours."

"Done, I am confident our Lord will approve of these actions. A shuttle of reinforcements from my ship are coming to support us, that should help even the odds. Beyond that, we must hold out and wait for our lord to bring us aid."

"You speak quite highly of this lord of ours, even though you say that you believe all are equal." General Vai'llum said with a slightly inquisitive tone.

He watched as the features of all of the aliens present, of varying races he had not seen before, turned into something befuddling. "Our Lord is unlike any being you have ever met. He has ruled over our people for centuries, his reign is eternal. Besides, the fact remains that all of us mortals are bound to this world and are all equal in the eyes of death." The scaled captain said.

Those words, along with the look of undying loyalty, combined with both unbridled fear and unrelenting love for their master, would stay with Vai'llum for the rest of his life. At the end of his long life, in the many turmoil filled years to come, he would look back on this moment and remember not when he himself had worn that look, but the impact and feelings that drove so many to believe in one being in such a way.

*In deep space*

The NBS Chagama floated in space, it's massive guns and powerful engines silent. Before the colossal dreadnought sat a slightly larger monolith of unknown origins, seemingly silent in the vast emptiness of space. Suddenly, there was a vortex of light from the structure, drawing the full attention of the small fleet surrounding it.

What emerged from the light was a small shuttle that is used primarily to perform scientific research and transport cargo. The technicians aboard the warship scrambled to identify the smaller craft, finally relieved to learn it is one of the lost Smaragdina's accompanying ships.

The captain of the large warship attempted to hail the small vessel. "This is Captain Ishiyan of the NBS Chagama, identify yourself."

"Oh! This is doctor Shulman. We were with the Smaragdina but came back through the transporter to confirm its return location. The Smaragdina is currently in another star system waiting for use to let it know how to get back to Nazarick space and bring help for the ground teams."

'At least that answers the question of where our ship went.' The undead captain thought to himself. "We are here to provide assistance, what exactly happened? And why are there ground teams in need of assistance?"

"Ah, yes. Well, apparently this structure is some kind of intersystem transporter, like a relay, and we accidentally activated it. We know how to activate this one regularly now. However, it appears the system we got sent to has a few problems. We started taking fire from a native race, so ground teams were sent to deal with it. But now it appears there is another party of armed aliens getting in on the conflict." The scientist said in an uncomfortably even tone given the circumstances.

'Great, our ship gets teleported Death knows where, and now it's crew is stuck in the crossfire of an alien war!' The captain lamented in his mind. "Alright, I want you scientists to send out how to use this relay structure to all the military vessels hear. Ensign, how long until his Majesty's ship gets here?"

"About four hours sir."

"Alright, I want us ready to go through the relay at combat readiness as soon as he arrives." He said, crew already scrambling about in preparation.

"No, we will go through now."

"Un-understood. Let's tether the research vessel to ours and have it bring us through!" The captain stated with nervous vigor. Shortly after a flash of light transported the dreadnought towards the distant system, ready to fight all who got in its way.


	7. Chapter 7

*If you haven't guessed yet, AU for Mass Effect. I will become more obvious.*

Liara was in shock. The last fifty years of work, half her life, were about to be stripped from her by these Batarian slavers. She had managed to convince the captain of this training mission for the Asari maidens on board to take her with them. Things were going well, the evidence for her theory was coming along nicely. She had even found trace proof of civilizations from before the Protheans! The impact that this would have on the galaxy would be immeasurable.

The trip had started out so well. The ship had headed out into uncharted space from terminus station. It had not taken them long to find a dormant relay. The research team started to investigate the structure in the hopes of finding some clue or detail not found on other relays. It was at this moment they were ambushed. The small fleet of vessels that seemed to have followed them very clearly not there with friendly intent.

A short fight had ensued between the lone Asari vessel and the small enemy fleet. Before its communications array was destroyed the Asari vessel sent out a distress beacon, although everyone on board was well aware of how slim the chance someone responding to the signal in time was. It was not long before the ship was floating dead in space, power to virtually all its systems gone with its destroyed power core. The intent of the enemy fleet became apparent when the Asari ship was not completely destroyed. They wanted to capture its passengers alive.

"Quickly, you must get to the bridge!" The Asari commando assigned to protect her team said. They quickly made their way to the room that was to be a last line of defense, other scientists and many of the younger, inexperienced maidens soon joining them.

"What are we going to do? At this rate we will all be killed!" one of the panicking maidens cred.

"Unfortunately, they seem to have a much more sinister plan in store for us. Otherwise they would just blow the rest of the ship up from afar." Liara said in a very depressing tone, her frank nature becoming apparent. "If I had to guess, I would say they are going to try and capture us, so they can turn us into slaves or get information from us."

"What kind of information could they possibly be looking for?" Another frightened maiden spoke up.

"I do not know. We can only hope that we are able to repel them, or that help arrives. Otherwise we must resign ourselves to our fate." Liara said as she looked at the few working screens left, and their saddening image of boarding ships heading towards the crippled vessel.

*Inside the captured base*

"Well general. How do you wish us to help?" Carysu said to the R'ha leader.

"The first thing we must do is get this planetary defense gun working again, it will be of great use in slowing down the enemy."

"Agreed, my men who are skilled in technology will stay to assist your men in working the controls. The rest of us should go gather whatever forces you have and meet up with our own re-enforcements."

"Very well, we should get moving. I will send word to the other generals to inform them of the situation, as well as attempt to figure out where they land so we can mobilize our forces to repel them."

"Alright, my men just landed outside, we should go join them before your men start shooting them."

Once they were outside, they met up with the group who had come to support them on the ground. Carysu could clearly see the hesitation and tension in the R'ha troops present. It was very understandable given the presence of four death knights and one other huge, armored, individual. He quickly walked towards the large armored figure, ignoring the other Nazarick troops who were moving about and the R'ha general following behind very meekly.

"Drang, there you are." He called out. Drang, now identified as a hulking war troll, turned towards the group.

"Ah, captain. This is all of the force we were able to find. Where do you want us to set up the defenses?"

Carysu then turned to the general behind him. "I think we should split any forces we have here in two. One will fortify this position and defend the gun for as long as possible, the other should be a group who is mobile, and can move to assist the local defenders wherever the enemy sets down."

"That seems like a solid strategy, you should lead the mobile force, and I will join you to help ease any conflict."

The soldiers then worked quickly, both R'ha and Nazarick forces moving as quickly as possible to set up solid defenses. Carysu watched as the one vehicle mounted heavy mining laser the Smaragdina had converted into a weapon was set up in a makeshift bunker. The last pieces of useful equipment were put in place shortly after. The leaders of the two groups moved into the base to view the progress of the enemy forces, and wait for the right moment to strike with their gun.

Inside the control room, they could see clearly on the large holographic screens that the enemy fleet was almost in range, but one vessel was peeling off too chase after the departed Smaragdina. "They appear to be planning on attacking the city of Ro'hul, it is the largest remaining city in the northern plains." General Vai'llum said from Carysu's side.

"Are they in range yet?" Carysu called out to one of the men manning the terminals.

"Yes sir."

"Open fire on the smaller assault craft. Try to cripple as many as possible. Don't worry about destroying them, we only want to stop them from landing in force right now." Carysu called out. He watched with baited breath to see the reaction of this weapon. Two smaller vessels were quickly crippled. And the fleet reacted violently. A large and very well armed ship started making towards the base they were in, while the rest of the fleet did its best to start landing as quickly as possible, even the poorly armed transports.

"I believe this is the time for us to leave. We can get to Ro'hul just after the enemy lands if we take your drop ship." Vai'llum said from his side.

"Alright, let's go. Drang, hold out as long as possible. If it becomes hopeless sabotage the gun controls and fall back to safer ground." He said as they left for the waiting drop ship.

"Yes sir."

*Entering the R'ha's system*

Commander Terrack was pleased with himself, he was finally able to amass a large enough strike force to take care of the rest of those four armed aliens. The size of the fleet they were bringing would be more than enough to destroy any pathetic resistance those inferior beasts could muster. 'Four arms is just weird, they do make great slaves though. I want to find a new female too, that last one is just about worn out.' He thought darkly, reflecting on his more perverse pleasures he was allowed to partake in on these raids.

"Alright, let's slaughter those beasts. We have almost taken out any form of resistance. So let's finish them off." He said to all of the crews in the fleet. "I want the combat vessels to launch an assault on the main city in the north. Two of them will hang back to escorts the transports. Once we have created a large enough beach head."

As they neared the planet an alarm started going off. "Sir! There is a large unidentified vessel in orbit around the planet. It appears to be moving out of the system towards the relays now sir. It seems to have seen us first." The grunt at the controls called out.

"What? Who does it belong to? It shouldn't be one of ours, and those beasts should not have the technology to make something like that."

"Unknown sir. It is too far to get a solid reading, but it appears to be slightly larger than a normal cruiser, and is of an unknown design."

"Damn it, nobody can interfere with our work here. Alright, I want one of our assault ships to break away from the invasion and go investigate that ship."

Terrack watched as one of the more armed vessels broke off from the main fleet to chase after the mysterious ship. They were finally nearing the atmosphere of the planet, its surface clearly devoid of any oceans, the fleet started to move towards a large city in the plains of the northern continent. However, this day had one more unpleasant surprise for Terrack and his fleet. As they passed the nearest moon, a beam of light hit one of the smaller vessels in the fleet. The ship's shields clearly flared for a brief moment before falling, the deadly beam slamming into the ship. The now clearly crippled vessel listed to one side as it slowly started to loos altitude. Very shortly after another beam hit a different ship, which soon followed its predecessor.

"What is shooting at us?!"

"Sir! It is a large mass effect cannon of Prothean design. They must have gotten it working somehow. We have located the area the gun is firing from."

"Alright, someone get down there and take out that gun! All other ships are to continue with the assault on the city, including the transports. We need to get them out of range of that gun!"


	8. Chapter 8

*For all that are wondering, right now is more like an intro to the main story, it will start by 30,000 words probably. If someone wants to make an image for this go right ahead, I am way too lazy and unskilled for that.*

Tarvarn watched as the assault ship he and his men had been on exploded into a crimson fireball, some 120 miles from their target. His team had been tasked with taking out the large planetary defense gun that had assaulted the fleet. He and the majority of his ground troops had only just gotten away from the assault ship they had come in before it too was brought down by the gun. About a dozen medium troop transports had gotten away from the doomed ship, carrying about thirty men each or less. They weren't supposed to be front line fighters, their greater numbers and larger ships were meant to be re-enforcements to the first wave.

He watched as one of the transports imploded from being gutted by the defense gun. They weren't close enough to drop the troops yet, they needed to get through the flack. As they got closer to the base identified to hold the gun, they started taking more fire from the ground, the few fighter escorts they had completely occupied by the wave of enemy aircraft intercepting them. Tarvarn was confused, this time there was a different kind of ground fire coming at them. He watched as this new type of fire, made up of yellow streaks of light, like a mass effect round, that tracked their targets peppered another transport full of holes, killing the occupants before the ship exploded, sending shrapnel into another nearby transport causing it to fall from the sky as well.

They finally reached an area close enough to land them in. All of the remaining troops rushed to get out of the transports and away from the large targets they were. Only two Mako class assault vehicles and less than 150 men made it to the surface. The rest were all killed on the ship or brought down in their transports. Tarvarn looked at the sizable force, but balked at the thought of having to take on an unknown force with unknown weapons with such a small army in front of him. He was a coward through and through, letting the grunts fight and die in his place while he reaped the rewards. He had been on other slaving raids to this world before, but none had ever gone anywhere nearly as bad as this. Now, he was stuck with no support in enemy territory and a possibly suicidal mission.

"Alright! Let's take out that gun before there is a whole army on top of us!" He cried out, hoping to encourage the clearly disheartened men. He luckily didn't need to motivate them further as one of his more stellar lieutenants, Varsih if he remembered correctly, rallied his men and charged forward, dragging the rest of the force along. He hung towards the rear of the force, close to one of the Makos, hoping it would provide him with cover and aid. He could see the battle raging on towards the front of the force. His fears were right, there were some soldiers, probably human and turian, who were not part of the native force fighting against his men.

He was quite disturbed by the four large mech like heavy soldiers that were there. They had heavy armor and a large blast shield that seemed to stop just about everything, coupled with heavy machine guns of an unknown design meant they were walking avatars of brutality. There were other enemies who were 'different', a Krogan like armored behemoth who he swore he saw get a round through the eye before getting back up; short, child sized, humanoids who darted back and forth; and impossibly agile people with extra limbs or crazy biotic powers.

He was scared, every single thing in the raid so far had gone wrong. It was supposed to be a cake walk with their large force, the natives shouldn't have stood a chance. But then there was the planetary defense gun that split them up and forced them to the surface were the numerical difference became important. The next thing was all this new enemy equipment, and soldiers who were obviously human or from a similar race apposing them. This meant their little slaving operation was found, and that meant N7, Alliance, or maybe even the Council forces were going to intervene.

Thankfully their numbers and better weapons on average allowed them to slowly progress. They were losing a lot of men, even one of the Makos, but they were gaining ground. He could finally see the compound that housed the gun, now firing at the crippled vessels in orbit, hoping to kill a few more Batarians. This gave Tarvarn an unnatural amount of courage, driving him to the front of the fight. He valiantly shot down one of the probable human soldiers (from the side while she was distracted by the Mako), taking out her powerful explosive weapon.

"To me! We are almost there! Kill them all!" he shouted out, watching the last of the enemy soldiers fall or retreat back into the base. "Cowards!" he called out to the group of men who hung back, choosing instead to 'secure' the area for the transports. He did not expect such an outstanding lieutenant as Varsih to be a coward when they were so close to victory. Luckily most of the men joined him. They had been cut down to about 70 but they had to have killed just as many enemies.

He rushed forward, leading the charge as he should have from the start. He would no longer be a coward, his men would slaughter these beasts with him there to lead. He wasn't reckless, he made sure to have rockets near the front and plenty of grenades distributed. They methodically moved through the base, killing all of the defenders who tried to ambush them. As they rounded a corner, he could see that at least two of the large, shield wielding, enemies guarding the room just before the control room. He could also see a small group of enemies using strange tools, but he paid them little attention, they were less than half a dozen.

Just as he entered the room he noticed most of the remaining enemy force was hiding in the peripheries near the entrance, hoping to ambush them with a cross fire. "take out the nests with rockets quickly!" he called out, watching the men scramble to counter the ambush. However, the next move of the enemy was shocking enough that the Batarians and the natives all stopped in confusion. He saw the large armored individual, as well as the four shield bearing enemies, draw blades from their backs. The other unknown defenders followed or waited with their guns lowered.

He dumbly noted the fact that all the blades seemed to glow, with the shield enemies' sword pulsing a bloody aura of death. He then witnessed a kind of biotic power unlike any previously seen. The small group who had been in the center projected light in circular patterns with symbols into the air, pointing at Tarvarn's men. A twisting black cloud poured into existence from each circle, before it floated too quickly to be natural to be a normal fog towards the last few men in the group.

At this point Tarvarn was regaining his senses, and bringing up his weapon to shoot the idiot stupid enough to get into CQC unnecessarily. However, the shielded behemoths and the supposed leader of the unknown enemies rushed forward. He thought that it would be a real fight in those front lines if they got close enough, but Tarvarn was very wrong. Their speed was god like, they were shadows rushed forward. The first few men just before him were eviscerated or batted aside like puppets by the towering enemies.

He started to grow fearful again. All who stood in the way of those blades fell. He turned to run from the death that approached, only too late to see that the escape route was blocked. The black fogs had descended into their ranks, and any Batarian who touched it soon started cackling like madmen and started shooting their comrades. He tried to kill them, but only blowing their heads clean off put them down for good, even if there was a gaping hole in their chest it was no good.

He turned back, hoping to be able to surrender or push through, only to look horror in the face. The dead men who were felled by the enemies' blades rose back to their feet, and started trying to kill their former comrades. He started to tremble as one of the armored behemoths approached him. He could finally see its face, that of a rotting corpse, with a clear, burning hatred and thirst for blood in it. He started pleading, begging for one of the last men around him to save him. He pleaded, promising increasing sums of money and power to save him. The monster before him took great amusement in this, like he was re-witnessing a fond memory.

As he stumbled backwards he fell on the body of one of his men, its re-animated corpse grabbing at his leg. He continued to beg as the monster finally drew near, and raised its wicked blade for a killing blow. All he felt after that was pain, the blade of the monster acted like a saw as it was forcefully moved up and down. Eventually, his pleading stopped as blood dribbled from his mouth, never to make another sound again.

*Oudside the base*

Varsih knelt outside the enemy bunker, the few men smart or loyal enough to follow him were knelling down beside him. Once the 'raiding' group had entered the bunker they quickly worked to strip themselves of any weapons and get in a position of obvious surrender. He was smart enough to see the signs, he knew that any man who entered would not come out. There were too many oddities, too many losses so early on, for them to win.

They had obviously 'kicked the hornet's nest' as his human slaves would say, and this unknown enemy did not seem to be forgiving. He only hoped to get out of this alive, and if he was lucky one-day return home to his wives and children. After all, he loved them all, slaves or not. As he watched the enemy forces emerge victorious from the base a strange but accurate thought crossed his mind, they couldn't secure the gun.


	9. Chapter 9

*See if you can find the Monty Python reference*

Ainz turned to the large holographic display near him. With a nod the technician working at its control panel pressed a flashing symbol. The people who appeared on the display were a fragile looking female humanoid with silky blond hair and a white mask dressed in a long flowing dress, and a tall demon dressed in a suit with a long armored tail sprouting from his waste. "Icarus. I apologize for calling back to Nazarick. It seems that the impact this event is having is much larger than our other first contact scenarios."  
"There is nothing to apologize for master, I am yours to be used as you see fit." Replied the masked figure.

"Well, I will leave everything to you for now, I believe I will be gone quite some time because of this. Make sure that your 'pet' does not cause any trouble in your territories, I don't need any extra distractions."

"Understood. May I ask about the circumstances we are in My Lord? I feel that it will be important in planning and our actions in the near future."

"I will have a more descriptive report sent to you, but we have been caught in the crossfire of an interstellar war of some kind. For now, those present are trying to secure their own safety, but that is most likely dated information."  
"If I may be so bold your Excellency. I believe that we will be forced into this war and I suggest making movements to expand our intelligence networks in these unexplored regions." Spoke the tailed demon.

"I agree Demiurge, start assembling teams. We appear to have suffered a few losses already so hostilities seem necessary, on which side if either we will fight it is unknown. Myself, as well as three Guardians are going to be present so firepower is not lacking."

"Kukuku, I see My lord. We shall eagerly await your return."

'Ah, what is thinking this time?' Ainz thought to himself as the communication was cut. "Your Majesty, we are receiving a communication from Shalltear's 'Bloody Valkyrie'." replied a helmsman.

"Put her through."

A new figure soon sprang to life in the display. The beautiful blond haired vampire in her red velvet dress was the first to speak "Ahh! My Lord! What do you need of me?!" She cried out ecstatically.

"I know a report was sent to you Shalltear. Did you not read it?" She blushed furiously and looked away, muttering something about children. "No matter, I'm sure the captain of your ship is responsible enough to read it so I'm sure you are underway. Now that we are communicating, I wish to inform to not engage in battle without my approval, there is too little we know right now."

"Yes Ainz, if I may inquire, wo else is joining us on this expedition?"

"Albedo is with me and I have asked Aura to join us as well, her forces' recon abilities will prove useful."

"That is wonderful to hear! I await our meeting my lord!"

As the communication was terminated Ainz turned to the helmsman close to him "How much longer until we reach the staging area?"

"About one hour my lord."

"Good, do not disturb me unless it is an emergency before we reach the rendezvous."

* * *

"Ma'am! We are reading one of the assault ships from the unknown fleet is following us and should reach our position in less than five minutes!"

Sibr responded "How large and well-armed is the vessel? It must have made an in system jump to get this close to us right? Is it the same method that brought us here?" she stated, moving closer to a monitor to look at the readings on the incoming ship.

"It appears to be a mid-sized planetary assault ship, and is armed with primarily area damage bombardment weapons for troop support with very few anti-ship systems. It is still well enough armed to destroy us in our current state rather quickly. The readings show its engines and weapons use the same, albeit weaker, technology as the monoliths."

"Damn it, we only have one more shuttle to support us, and isn't armed at all. Get that shuttle out there and try to hail them with anything we can, I don't want to fight them."

It wasn't long before they could see the attack vessel out the front view port. A small wing of fighters and troop ships separated, potentially for a boarding raid. But the vessel didn't make any hostile moves to start with. All forms of communication seemed to be failing until one of the crew called out that he was picking up signals on radio frequency of all things. It took a few moments of scrambling and rushed algorithms to make coherent sense of the transmission, eventually being able to get a shaky audio connection.

What came through was a gruff and masculine voice. "Unknown vessel, identify yourself."

"This is vice-captain Sibr Stroffs of the NSR Smaragdina."

"Where is your captain?"

"On the planet, we were taking damage from a large gun and moved away for safety. This is a research vessel, not military. We couldn't stand up to that kind of fire power."

"Why were you not responding to our earlier hails? We are also detecting no mass effect onboard your ship aside from minute quantities in your cargo bay."

"We don't appear to be from the same section of space. We came through this monolith, not the same one as your fleet." There was a significant delay in response this time as the other side thought about their next move.

"You are interfering in an official military operation. Prepare to be boarded."

"That is not an option. This is a deep space research vessel of the Imperium of Nazarick, it will not be detained by an unknown and unidentified combatant."

"Listen up you damned female, I don't know what idiot put you in charge but you need to be taught a lesson. You are going to do as we say or we're going to board you anyways then blow your ship to smithereens." She could hear the frustration and anger in the voice, and felt no small amount of her own building inside her after that outburst.

"I repeat; you will not be taking control of this ship or its crew."

"Damn it! Fine, have it your way. I will enjoy seeing to your 'training' personally."

With that the communication was severed, but not fast enough to prevent a shiver from running up Sibr's spine. Slavery was considered to be barbaric, and the information they got from the surface alongside that last sentence cemented their belief that these marauders were some slaving group. The determination she now felt to stop the slavers even if it meant giving her life.

She could feel much of the same sentiment in the crew around her. One of the older crew, an aged dragonil, was frothing in rage at the reminder of his life in bondage before being freed by Nazarick. "Tell the shuttle to stop as many of those troop ships from reaching us! Everyone else is to take up arms or prepare for Close Quarters Combat to repel any boarding attempts."

The flurry of movement by the crew meant the charge of the small shuttle went mostly unnoticed. Sibr was relieved to see the surprisingly dense transport shuttle ram into one of the troop transports, the absolute damage negation of the Nazarick ship proved to be superior to the shielding and paper thin armor of the transport that crumpled under its charge and caused debris to careen into other troop ships. Its glorious charge didn't last long however as a missile from one of the escort fighters took out its engines in a fiery explosion. The other troop transports carried their payload of troops to the still damaged Smaragdina.

Within a few minutes the shuttles made it to the Smaragdina, with most of the troop ships entering the stuck open hangar and another smaller group heading to a hole in the hull from the damage taken earlier. Sibr personally lead the defense in the hangar, taking charge of the menagerie of personnel while what was left of the security detail handled the smaller enemy inside the ship. The defenders held their ground, their superior weapons and armor, or natural fighting ability of the collage of species, holding back the teams assaulting them. She watched as the old dragonil rampaged through the enemy forces, roasting entire squads of marauders alive with his fiery breath, only to shrug off any blows that hit his strong metal like scales before ripping those who got close enough apart with his claws.

She saw many similar scenes throughout the hangar, but they were slowly being pushed back. When one defender fell they couldn't fill the gap, thus forcing them to constantly retreat to the vastly more numerous enemies. Eventually her communicator chimed "This is security to the bridge! We were overwhelmed by the second group of borders! We are falling back to the armory!"

Sibr made her decision, and called out to all the crew left "All crew are to fall back to the bridge or the armory! We are retreating!"

*On the bridge of the Smaragdina*

The last few crew members on board the bridge franticly searched to find some way of holding back the boarding parties when one of them took notice of the enemy assault ship that was slowly making its way towards them. Panic began to overtake them as they heard on the comms that the defenders were being pushed back and the enemy guns prepared to fire on them.

Two crewmen, who had an odd relationship, turned to each other. "What was that?"

"Nothing. Here's your nine pence."

"I'm not dead yet!" They then watched as the crippled shuttle that had called out moved in between the two ships, where it was promptly hit by a round from the assault ship. A bright flash enveloped the shuttle as it exploded from the hit. But the light was too bright for the explosion, and something else had appeared next to the monolith after the light faded.

"It's a Guardian class dreadnought!" one of the elated and relieved crew cried out upon seeing the new arrival. Cheers were heard throughout the bridge, and part of the ship where the crew had heard on the comms the crewman's statement. One of the crew hit the receiver for the incoming signal and was relieved to hear the response.

"This is the Captain of the NBS Chagama. NSR Smaragdina, respond." Came the familiar rasping voice of an undead.

"This is the NSR Smaragdina requesting immediate assistance! All commanding officers are either off ship or repelling boarding parties! All other vessels in the area are hostile!

"Acknowledged."

The ecstatic crew watched in fascination as translucent domes of symbols moving at kaleidoscopic speeds appeared on the guns of the forward triple battery. Super tier magic. The number of people who could cast it on their own could be counted on the hands of a human, and the number of warships that could fire rounds of super tier magic number less than 100 throughout all of the forces of Nazarick.

When the domes broke, a piercing white light sprung from the end of each battery and the force of a small nuclear bomb roared through space. The few fighters that got in the way were atomized before the force tore through the armor of the assault ship. Being much closer to a laser, the rounds simply passed by the mass effect shielding and destroyed the thinner armor used inside the ships.

Shouts of joy were heard on the bridge as dozens, no, hundreds, of objects too small to be ships were shot from the Chagama that raced towards the battered Smaragdina and now gutted assault ship.


	10. Chapter 10

**I am changing the character list because I don't think I can write for those types of characters. Comment on if you think it should be M, some of the planned scenes might be pretty graphic.**

She watched with wide eyes as her mommy put her in the special room with her older brother. She didn't really know why mommy was so scared, daddy said he would protect them and he never lies. "Take care of your sister. Whatever you hear, don't come out until you think it is safe or someone comes for you. Try to get as far away from the city as possible, we will meet up with you at the museum we took you to last year. And, please, remember that we will always love you." And with that their mother was gone.

The quiet of small room soon became terrifying to the small child. She let out a small whimper curling up into a small ball. She soon felt a calming hand placed on her side a soft whisper the only reminder to be quite and stay still. It helped. Her older brother was always there for her, when the children at school would bully her because of her eyes or quiet personality he was always there to pick her up. Whenever she had nightmares he would tell her stories to calm her down. Her favorites were about knights in shining armor, always helping others. Although, the ones about the guy trying (and failing) to impress a girl made her laugh. They reminded her of her brother, and how he would always get nervous around his childhood friend.

She didn't get to see her parents much, it made her sad. They always seemed nervous whenever the "news" would talk about some people with four eyes who were doing something bad. She had never met them, but how mean could they be? This time they were apparently coming to her city! So why couldn't she go be friends with them? She didn't understand.

She noticed a small sound outside the room they were in. they hadn't heard much since their mother left. She felt her brother go tense at the sound of laughter and talking, but she couldn't understand what they were saying. She stood up, her brother unable to stop her infectious curiosity getting the best of her. When she walked over to the door she heard a thud and a muffled scream. A feminine voice sounded on the other side of the door that she recognized as her brother's friend and their neighbor, Su'u. She could hear more laughter, and what sounded like pained pleading.

She didn't notice her brother moving, she could hardly recognize him with twisted rage and anger written across his face. He burst out of the room they were hiding in and charged in the direction of the sounds. Around the corner was something thoroughly confusing to the small child. A strangely dressed man with only two arms was standing over Su'u, who was curled up in a ball with half torn clothes and tears running down her slender face. The shock was evident in the man's body language, although his face was covered by a helmet like her daddy would let her wear sometimes.

He quickly reached for something at his side, but her brother was faster. His body hit the man, sending them both sprawling to the floor. "Both of you! Run! Get out of the city!" he cried.

No longer held down by the man Su'u got up and ran, grabbing her by the arms and dragging her away. She saw his helmet get torn off in the scuffle, four eyes burning with pure rage. He was eventually able to get the item from his side, and put it up to her brother's head. A sharp crack was all her heard before her brother slumped down and fell still, a pained expression fixed to his face. She understood why her parents had been so scared, but she wasn't. No, she was **angry**.

She didn't even think at that point, her body moving as she wrenched free of Su'u's grasp and ran as fast as she could towards the next room, the kitchen. A small part of her mind remembered her mother terrified when she had made one of the "knives" fall to the floor on accident. Her mother had said the pointed end was dangerous and could hurt someone. Well now there was someone she **really** wanted to hurt. Grabbing one of the knives she raced back towards her brother and the stranger, only to see him struggling to move the limp body of her brother.

Her young mind then made a surprisingly logical, but cold, leap in thought. Her brother had stopped moving when something happened to his head, so shouldn't the same happen to this stranger? She rushed on top of his still pinned body and brought down the knife with all force she could muster. And then she raised the knife and did it again. And again. She no longer knew what was going on around her barely registering Su'u's screaming of her brother's name, or the fierce swearing of someone who just entered the room. It wasn't until she was pulled off by two people before feeling pain course through her whole body did she stop. As her vision flickered back and forth, she looked at the new four-eyes and thought about her knight in shining armor, as they waded through a river of the four-eye's blood.

* * *

Carysu raced down the street, a small squad of Nazarick troops and local soldiers around him. The empty and abandoned streets were eerily quiet. They had not encountered many people since they landed on the outskirts of the city, only the last few stragglers of the city's residents fleeing. Unfortunately, it was obvious to him what they were fleeing from. The menagerie of star-ships that were setting down inside the city, and the frighteningly small number of refugees at the military camp they came from after landing hinting to where many people had gone.

That was the reason they were out here, the local government wanted to try and rescue their kidnapped citizens, but didn't have the manpower or weaponry for a successful rescue. Luckily for them, a group of well-armed fighters had shown up and offered to help with a General vouching for them. Even if they were untrustworthy, what would they lose if these outsiders died or double crossed them?

A stray sound off to the side drew his attention back to the situation at hand. They had managed to scout out some of the holding areas where the civilians were being kept, unfortunately a larger strike force would be needed to set them free. The local soldiers guided the few men Carysu brought with him through the less noticeable streets. A larger force or the hulking Death Knights would be more likely to give away their position to the still hunting Batarians. He didn't like being exposed at all, but their comms weren't working and they needed to report their findings in person.

There was no warning before a sharp crack and a flash of light ended one of his men's lives. He dove for cover and swore as another two fell to the sniper in the building surrounding him, this time one of his and a local went down.

"You two! Get back to the base camp as quickly as possible. You three cover them as they fall back!" he shouted.

The orders were quickly followed but before they had any more time to regroup an explosion on their flank sent many of them to the ground. An armored vehicle and several squads of Batarians were charging up the street. Another explosion warned him of the same thing coming from the other direction.

"Go! Run through the buildings! You two, buy them time!" He watched as the designated messengers and two others ran for one of the large buildings. The cross fire they were stuck in was slaughtering the few who were left. A clink made him look down, and he could only stare dumbly at the grenade at his feet ' _this is going to hurt'_ was the only thought he had before the world went white with pain, followed by a comforting black.


	11. Chapter 11

The Chagama moved towards the inner system slowly, careful of any possible threats to the 4-kilometer-long ship. While it may dwarf the hostile vessels in the system, it was fighting a completely unknown threat. The large vessel moved away from the relay it arrived from, a smattering of smaller accompanying vessels arrived behind it. When it became clear there were no immediate threats, the fighter complements of these ships were launched, increasing the area of safety and preparing to fly relief missions to aid their ground forces.

As the mighty warship moved through space, its complement of boarding troops launched towards the battered and crippled Smaragdina arrived, quickly suppressing all the hostiles on board. A flurry of small shuttles started moving between the ships, moving material and personnel quickly to where they were needed.

The great warship didn't choose to move further inside the system, instead opting to secure the nearby relays. There would still be some time before more ships would arrive, and they wanted to make sure no enemies escaped the system. While more than a match for the enemy fleet in system, the Nazarick forces were still significantly fewer in number and they would be too focused on chasing ships down or supporting ground units to effectively clean up properly.

**Inside the Smaragdina**

Vice-Captain Sibr moved with purpose through the damaged ship towards the bridge. The surviving crew and undead assault forces sent to relieve them treated the wounded and cleaned up the bodies from the fierce fighting. Engineers rushed about trying to stabilize the ship by bringing the critical systems that had been lost back online.

As she arrived on the bridge she quickly made her way to the coms, signaling the Chagama's captain, hoping to understand the situation more clearly. The figure who showed up in the holo display was not the Chagama's captain, her mind quickly realizing she was in the presence of someone **much** higher in rank led to her prostrating herself. She didn't need to look back to know all actions of the bridge crew had stopped as they too prostrated on the ground in a show of the utmost respect.

"I apologize My Lady, I did not realize I was disturbing someone of such importance." Her tone forceful, but devoid of emotion.

"It's fine, I wanted to speak to you anyways. Your crew can continue their duties." At such an indifferent reply and curt dismissal, she heard the bridge crew moving about as they continued their duties, any hint of unprofessionalism gone with such an important figure in view of their actions.

It did not go over Sibr's head that _she_ wasn't dismissed, or given further instructions. Her actions and choices were on review, and a single misstep would spell disaster for her.

"Your captain went down to the planet and left you in-charge, right? Why did he leave you in charge instead of just sending the security chief to take care of the problem?"

"Yes, the security chief is also currently on the planet as well, the forces planet side have apparently split into two groups assigned to different tasks. Captain Carysu decided that it was more important to establish further relations with the local presence. He led the initial assault because he is one of the most well trained and highly skilled individuals on the ship, and all that was needed of the Smaragdina was to avoid hostilities.

With the arrival of the hostile fleet we were unable to avoid confrontation and we were unable to leave the system before they caught up to us, leading to the situation you arrived to. They ordered us to surrender, but that was impossible given the circumstances and it would shame Nazarick for a vessel bearing this name to surrender." She replied with conviction.

"Heh~, very well. As soon as Ainz-sama arrives we will move to relieve your captain and destroy these aliens. You are dismissed to continue your duties." With that the transmission was cut and Sibr was able to breath a sigh of relief. Her explanation and justification of her and her captain's actions seemed to be enough, for now.

* * *

This rapid change of situation, while unobserved, did not go unnoticed by the Batarian ships further inside the system. Their view of the situation had been lost due to the ships being behind a Gas Giant, the loss of communication with their assault ship sent to investigate was a clear indicator of problems. Terrack may have been arrogant, but he did not get in command of such a large force by being stupid. He decided it was time to cut their losses and leave the system before any further losses, or worse, a relief fleet for the unidentified ship arrived. He gave the order to his men to start loading up the slaves they had already captured, and fall back with all due haste.

"We are pulling out, anyone not on a ship in the next two hours is going to be left behind. Also, send a few dropships and gunships to take care of those sent towards that cannon." He commanded, displeasure at the situation evident in his voice. Those around him started to send out his orders, their chattering grating on his frayed nerves.

The stress of such a dramatic change from his plans causes Terrack to need some fresh air. He stepped out from his command tent at the center of the FOB the had made to process their returning cargo. He walked through the camp with no purpose or destination in mind. His eyes drifted over the forms of his men, their faces dour and their actions harsh. He understood their emotions, this raid was supposed to be swift and decisive, but it had suffered immediate setbacks and greater losses then anticipated.

He stopped next to one of the pens, most of the native beasts that were cowering in fear, any hope gone. The few that looked at him with anger or defiance sparked something inside of him, a deep-seated rage sprouted from everything wrong that had happened took over him, he needed something to vent on. A young native caught his eye, she was just a child, but the pure hate she viewed him with was shocking. Her body showing signs of being handled rather violently, bruised and bloody but bold and firm in her stance. It spurred him on, making his rage bubble out and manifest itself in a need for violence.

He knew it would be unacceptable to 'damage' this specific _product_. The loses already suffered by the expedition would be hard to make up, and a spirited and energetic female youngling would always sell well to those with the right tastes. His fists clenched in rage, he needed some relief. A few minutes later he was seen storming in to his private chambers on board his flag ship, where an already broken female lay chained to the floor. He had some time before they left, he could spare some for relief.

"Don't disturb me until we are ready to pull out." He commanded to the guards posted nearby. He didn't bother waiting for a response before going inside, a quick check to the systems made sure no one could message him, and no one would hear the sounds from inside the room.

When he first entered the room the female he had kept for himself on a previous raid laid there, a broken unresponsive look upon her face. However, she quickly noticed his mood and her appearance grew fearful, clearly aware of what was likely to come.

* * *

Drang watched as the captured slavers were moved away from the front of the base, the threat of attack leading them to be secured somewhere less open. Many R'ha officers were very upset about keeping them alive, but with the language barrier overcome because of the magic all Drang's men have on them meant they could make leaps and bounds in terms of intelligence gathering. He decided to head back inside towards a makeshift interrogation room where the General in charge of the base and an identified slaver officer were located.

He finally came to the holding room, a large office that had been cleared of unnecessary items. The R'ha soldiers standing guard stood a little straighter in his presence from fear and respect, the large Death Knights standing guard couldn't be bothered and were unlikely to react to anything non-hostile. When he walked in he was greeted with the sight a very calm and quiet prisoner with a very anxious, but controlled, native.

"Where would you like to start General?" Drang asked, hoping to get some sort of dialog started.

"I believe we should start with the basics. We haven't captured enough of them who will talk to get anywhere on translating their language, so we know next to nothing." He replied, at this point he was only feeling relief at getting somewhere with one of these interrogations, how this menagerie of aliens could be understood and understand anything that was said to them was unimportant.

"Very well, what is your name, race, and place of origins slaver?" He asked, his piercing gaze focused on the secured four eyed alien.

"Lieutenant Varsih, Batarian Hegemony 3rd Recon corps. My species comes from the planet Khar'shan, which is probably what you want to know. It's about twenty thousand light years from here." Came his surprisingly helpful reply.

"Why did you surrender? That is not something your species tends to do, from what I have been told. You mostly just run or try to fight back if you are to be overwhelmed."

"Every single aspect that could have gone wrong on this job has. And with the losses we suffered just getting to the entrance to this place it was obvious to anyone smart we had, as the humans say, 'kicked a hornet's nest'. If you are wondering what a human is they are a bipedal race similar to you in body structure but closer to us in size, there were a few of your men like that."

"I know what a human is, I work along-side many of them. How have you come in to contact with humans and not the rest of the Imperium?"

"I don't know about any Imperium, but humans have become a pretty regular sight after they made contact with the greater galaxy a few decades back. I don't know a whole lot that's relevant about them beyond that. I've only had some contact with humans enslaved by the Hegemony."

The slavery part frustrated Drang, it was clear to him that slavery was normal to the Batarians with this Varsih's lack of interest in the topic. But, he had other areas he wanted cover before they ran out of time in this brief. After telling his responses to the General he returned to the interrogation, a new wave of questions ready. "Why have you been trying to enslave this race, in particular, for the last few months?"

"Because the Hegemony needed something, anything, to bring in some cash, and this system hadn't been discovered by any of the other species yet, so it was thought a profit could be quickly made. That would be the main reason I'd have to guess."

"What do you mean by other species? Like the human group you were talking about?"

"Them, the Asari, Turians, and Salarians. Those are the races with say and power right now, and with them all being anti-slavery it isn't easy for the legal slave trade. While they would complain and raise a stink about what we are doing here when they find out, and sooner rather than later I would imagine, they won't want war, more specifically the influential Asari. They are pretty pacifistic, so with this not impacting major galactic holdings they will probably just cry about the injustice of it and slap some tariffs on the Hegemony."

 _That_ was interesting. Human conundrum aside for now, the information that there was a galactic community likely to get involved was likely to cause a few headaches for his superiors. The shock on the General's face was quite evident, while his species clearly now knew about there being alien life, the information about such a greater galactic community was too much after all that had happened to his people, the reasoning too cold and perpendicular to his way of thinking for him to grasp. One thing still nagged at Drang's mind, he had to know. "Why are you being so helpful. You talking about slavery of your captors in such can't be your smartest move."

"You are partially right, but I'm not doing it for _them._ " He said pointing to the General, "I'm doing it for whoever _your_ boss is. I don't want to die a painful death, and by the way you fight that is probably what awaits me even with me helping you. However, I will do everything I can to make sure I stay alive, and, hopefully, return home to my family."

"This is quite the occupation for you to be asking for so much from your captors."

Varsih snorted in a very familiar way, "I grew up as a lower high-class member of the Batarian Hegemony, there was no way I wouldn't become an officer in the military. And to not take part in operations like this is at the least a political and fiscal suicide for you _and_ your family. That is just the way the Hegemony works, how we are raised. I don't try to be a monster, but in this life, that is what happens to you."

That response left Drang quite contemplative, he would need more time to think through his opinions on this, and he was glad he wouldn't be the one to make any major decisions about how Nazarick responded to this. He was quite relieved when a nock sounded on the door. When the door was opened a young officer stood there stiffly, nervousness evident in his stance.

"Sir, you are needed in the control room, more ships have started to arrive in system from one of the devices." The officer blurted out in a brief manner to the General.

Drang turned to Varsih, "Are your troops expecting friends to show up?"

"Hell no, a fleet of this size is hard enough to move around, especially unnoticed. The few ships that didn't come through with the main fleet are there to keep watch and make sure no one interferes, or give us warning if we need to get out of here."

"You are coming with us, we might need you to identify these new ships for us."

There was some protest from the General, but he was quick to silence when Drang decided to have two of the Death Knights babysit Varsih while they were out of a holding room. They quickly made their way to the control room, the place a flurry of activity as they tried to make any preparations for a possible fight.

"Pull up a detailed image of these new ships as soon as you can. And start collecting any information on weapons and armor that you can." The General ordered to the men, getting some semblance of control over the situation.

"we are putting up an image of the largest one now, it, it's massive Sir. Four kilometers long." One of the controllers stated in a shaky voice.

"Impossible, that's six times larger than any other slaver ship we have seen. Why now?" the General whispered in ever growing dread.

As soon as the image of the ship was pulled up all the R'ha, and the lone Batarian, in the room had a sharp intake of air. This was a warship; a massive, well armored, well-armed, dreadnaught of unbelievable size that was heading their way. They could only look at Drang with slack jaws and wide eyes when he started to chuckle.

"I sure hope you don't try shooting at that ship with your gun, you don't want to piss off its commander." He flatly stated with and undertone of mirth in his voice.

"What is it?" he heard someone wisper.

He turned to look at the assembled group, worry about their future clear on their faces. He spoke with a tone full of emotion, his pride and loyalty evident. "That is a Guardian Class Dreadnaught of the Royal Nazarick Navy one of the more powerful classes of ships we field. That ship right there means help has arrived, and all will know why Ainz Ooal Gown knows no defeat."


	12. Chapter 12

Commander Shepard towered over the last of the fighting Batarian slavers, a thunderous roar from her shotgun and he was no more. With the fighting over she looked around the bridge to the few Asari who had survived this attack. Most of them were exhausted, they had put everything into holding off the slavers. The Normandy had arrived to the Batarians finishing off the Asari resistance and were only just able to save the remaining maidens.

They moved quickly to aid the Asari, following their orders from the Council, but couldn't save many. She spied Garrus Vakarian pushing a captured Batarian forward. She made her way towards them, the massive Krogan Wrex falling in step behind her. She could tell the Batarian would be stubborn, but he had obviously never met the Survivor of Akuze.

"Start talking. What was such a well-funded group doing out here in the ass end of nowhere?" She asked calmly, trying to control her irritation.

"We are just simple prospecting colonists defending ourselves from these _maidens_ who attacked us." The smug reply from her prisoner graded on her nerves, and his look of superiority frayed them even further.

"So then why didn't you stop when a Council warship showed up and told you to stop?" She internally seethed as the Batarian noticed her irritation and got even more smug.

"How were we supposed to be sure you from Council space? Out here every two-bit pirate and warlord will use old codes to try and convince you to surrender without a fight." She could feel the sarcasm dripping with every word in his response.

"Look, I really don't have time for this. I'm in the middle of a rather important job and having to waste a couple days dealing with stuck up brats and wannabe playboys is not what I would define as fun. So, you are going to tell me what I want to know before things get any worse for you." The Batarian didn't know how close he was to a literal hell.

"Do your worst, two eyes." If she didn't have her helmet on they would all have seen the throbbing vein on her temple as proof of her mounting anger.

"Hey Wrex, are feeling a bit hungry?" Her coy voice held the last vestiges of her self-control.

"No. Besides, Batarian isn't all that good, too stringy." His rumbling refusal proved too much, and while the evil glint his eye made it clear he was amused by the situation, Shepard was anything but.

* **Bang*** The bark of her Carnifax was a surprise to everyone, they weren't expecting such a violent response. When Shepard spoke again her voice had morphed into something else, pure rage with an undertone of sadistic amusement. "Now, while it is fortunate for you my Jurassic friend here isn't peckish, I am quite done with your little facade. I am going to give you one more chance before I get serious. So please tell me before I shoot the _other_ testicle."

A whimpering sob was all the slaver could muster between the pain and sheer terror he felt for the woman in front of him. His sobbing continued to fray her already spent nerves. So, mustering up the last dredges of control she had, she knelt down in front of him. With her pistol in place to make good on her threat she once again spoke, this time in a more normal voice.

"Breath, breath. That's it. Tell me what I want to know, and this can all end." Her voice was oddly reassuring given her previous actions.

"*Hic*, we, we were told t-to get rid of any pos-possible witnesses. *sob*" The Batarian's terror fed her darker desires quite well.

"Witnesses of what?" keeping her voice clam, she gently prodded him for more information.

"*Sob*, well, w-we found a new sys-system behind a closed relay. We, we were trying to keep anyone away fr-from our slaving operation."

"Did you open the relay?" She sincerely hoped they didn't, for their sake.

"N-no, the race behind it did. It, it's in their home system s-so they weren't all that strong. We figured we, we could conquer them before anyone interfered. *Hic*"

"So, let me get this straight. You found a new sentient species, went through an illegally opened relay, and are now trying to enslave this race before you get caught red handed." The throbbing vein was back.

"Uh-huh"

"So, who hired you to do such a stupid thing." If his answer irritated her any more, skulls were going to crack. Starting with his.

"The Heg-hegemony. There isn't much but if you scan the databases on our ships you can probably find some evidence." The Batarian had started to calm down, thinking the danger had passed.

"Thank you." ***Bang*** Another bark of her pistol and the Batarian slumped over with a new hole in his head.

"What?" she asked, befuddled by the expression on her Turian companion's face.

"*Sigh*. Nothing, we should probably get moving. I don't think we have the qualifications to do much more here and we have our mission to do." His mandibles flared in what she thought was exacerbation.

"True, but any further intel we can gather will help out in the future, and I hate leaving a job half done." After saying what she felt needed to be said, she brought her hands up to her comm controls.

'Tali, do you read?' Shepard had split her forces between the vessels, hoping to clear them all out at once.

" _I hear you Commander._ " The diminutive Quarian responded.

"Have you secured the Batarian ship yet?"

" _Almost, we're moving to the bridge now._ " She could hear the Quarian's shotgun blast away at another slaver in the background as her team made headway.

"Good, make sure to swipe any data you can. It will be pretty useful in the future." Shepard could have purred at the good news.

" _Affirmative, we have some Asari prisoners here, what should we do with them?_ "

"Send them over to this ship on a shuttle, we don't have the space for 'em on the Normandy. They can be picked up by a relief ship when it gets here."

"Um, c-can you tell us who you are please?" The whispered question reminded Shepard of a scared kitten. She turned to look at the young maiden who had asked the question. She was bolder then her companions, all of whom were cowering in the farthest corner of the room.

"Hm? I'm Commander Shepard of the Systems Alliance and Spectre for the Citadel Council."

"I didn't know the humans had a Spectre." The look of suspicion on the Asari's face was completely expected.

"Yeah, I'm pretty new on the job. This far out it isn't surprising that you haven't heard anything yet." Shepard only shrugged her shoulders as she responded. It's not like she cared what these girls thought.

"Why are you out here? If you don't mind me asking?" The Asari forged on, hoping to glean some useful information.

"To save your asses, we were ordered to come save you since no one else was close enough to help." Her tone was laced with sarcasm as she pointed out the obvious.

"That doesn't answer my question." A small trace of irritation crossing the perfect face of the Asari.

"Do you really think a Spectre would just tell you what they are doing? Although, you might have some information to help us out. Have you heard anything about one Matriarch Benezia or the Spectre Saren Arterus?" She was slightly amused by the reactions of what amounted to an Asari teenager.

"What do you want with my mother?" A frown settled on the Asari's face upon hearing a Spectre was looking for her mother.

Shepard, however, couldn't be happier. She had finally tracked down a possible clue on Saren without having to go down to some asshole of a planet or get shot up by Geth. The Batarians were annoying, not difficult to kill and fanatically devoted to stopping her. Her relief and joy at such a turn of events had here smiling genuinely, much to the discomfort of those who witnessed her little tirade on that slaver.

"You don't need to worry about it. Although, I will have to ask you to come with me back to my ship, so I can ask you a few questions in _private_." Her tone made it clear there was no room for discussion. The cowering maidens could only lament the loss of another sister on this ill-fated trip, the probably horrific end to the young scholar before them just made it all sadder.

"Now that I know who your mother is, can you please tell me who you are and what you are doing out here?" She was genuinely curious, if only from an intelligence standpoint.

"My name is Liara T'soni. I am a researcher on the Protheans. I was on Therum but the surface of the planet became too harsh to continue my research, so I came on this mission to study a Prothean station that observes a dormant relay. That relay is likely to be the relay the slavers are using." Although she was still scared of this quite possibly deranged human before her, she had mostly calmed down, able to think clearly about why she could possibly be needed.

"Fun. Grab any personal items you may need, as well as any research data or artifacts you have handy. We will need them on our mission. That will be all." She turned away from the dismissed Asari, heading to the viewport.

With that the Asari left hurriedly to get her things, not wanting to earn further ire from such a fierce woman. Shepard could only pride herself in the benefits this little side mission provided.

' _I have a feeling that things are going to start going a looot smoother._ ' Looking out into the vastness of space, Shepard started to feel optimistic about her mission.

 ***Well, I feel like I should just say this. I don't like writing for this story. The main reason for the long updates is that I just don't know how to get where I want with a compelling narrative. With that said, I won't take this story down or list it as complete. I might post sporadically as my muse for this story comes to me. In the meantime, I will be focusing on another story of mine, 'A Supreme Queen'. I am enjoying writing for it much more and know what and how I want to do it, so it's been receiving much more frequent posting. Feel free to check it out if you want to. Until next time (if there is one).***


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